I chose this product for my daughter's 6th birthday because she is constantly using up my printer paper playing school or writing/drawing things. Even though this seems like just another technologically unnecessary item, I still felt it would get its money's worth at our house. So far so good! I didn't intend on getting her a pink one when I set out to find the best price on these Boogie Boards, but since the going rate for a black one or different color was $26-29, and this pink one was listed at $23, it seemed like a no-brainer, because of course she would PREFER pink over black anyway!
The Boogie Board is reminiscent of the old-fashioned cardboard toys I had as a kid, where you wrote on a gray "film" with a plastic pencil-like item and it used some form of carbon copy, or static to make your marks. Then when you wanted to erase, you peeled up that plastic gray film and it erased. This is basically an 'electronic' version of that. It is very thin and slender but seems to be of good quality. This Boogie Board came with an optional magnet to attach to the back so it could be used on the fridge for notes, etc. It is very easy to write on and it is almost pressure sensitive, as if you hold the plastic stylus in one spot longer, your line will get thicker depending on the pressure. For erasing, you press the top circle and there is a quick flash of light, and your image is gone and the board is blank. The product says it is good for only a certain number of "erases", as there is no option to change batteries or bulbs or anything like that. It is kind of a relief knowing I don't need to track down certain batteries or mess with that at all, but also a bummer to know that there is a life-expectancy on this 'toy.' However, the number of erases is somewhere in the hundreds of thousands, so I am confident my children will have broken or lost this toy before that point. I am currently deciding if I should buy one of the cases for this or just let it haphazardly survive in my home/car…..good news is cases are only around $10.
Onto the shipping. We received this item very quickly. However, the packaging was very poor for such an item. This Boogie Board has manufacturing packaging so you are able to write on a portion of the board or "test it out" in stores and see how it works, so there is a section across most of the screen that has no protection. That is all fine and dandy, but for shipping, it should be protected in a BOX like most of my Amazon products arrive in. Instead it was placed in a regular yellow padded envelope. This envelope had huge gashes in it and was tore through the envelope AND bubble wrap, exposing the screen. The manufacturing box also had tears in it, like it was either mishandled or someone used the product and then returned it in its less than par box. Considering this item has a limited use, I don't like the idea that it could be potentially 'used' and then returned. I definitely expect more out of Amazon than the packaging it was sent in. I took pictures of these gouges and tears and emailed Amazon about it, but have not heard any response or a "we'll do better next time" or anything….yet (sent that message about a month ago).
Breakdown of review:
My daughter, age 6 and son, age 8 fight over using this board. They love it and it has already paid for itself in terms of its use at our house. Great for in the car too- they are loving playing hangman on it or passing notes back and forth.
Price was great for a product like this. I would definitely buy again and recommend to anyone with children. I kind of want my own to put on the fridge for notes/reminders and that kind of thing.
I will eventually probably want a case for this if for no reason than to have a place to keep track of the stylus…right now it is lost in the abyss known as my daughter's room…..
Only con I can think of, other than the packaging, is that there is no way to erase just a portion of your screen. Like if you are drawing something and you make a mistake, you have to erase the entire screen and start over (I remember this all too well with having to pull the gray film back on those 'olden day' toys).
I would rate the product 5 stars if it came with a string on the stylus or a place to attach it to the board, and if they mailed it out in a protected box with the air packs like most of my other products are sent. Clearly this must have been filled by a company other than Amazon, but if Amazon is going to use this other company, they should make sure their packaging meets their requirements and standards!
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